Method and Structure for Mitigating Instrumentation Differences

1. A system for normalizing groups of laboratory instruments, the system comprising: one or more groups of laboratory instruments; and a normalization server in communication with the groups of laboratory instruments; wherein the groups of laboratory instruments send data indicative of outputs to the normalization system and wherein the normalization system outputs normalized outputs to the groups of laboratory instruments.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the normalization server and the one or more groups of laboratory instruments communicate via a network communications link.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the communications link is an Internet web-site interface.

4. A method for standardizing instrument results from a plurality of laboratory instruments, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining testing specimen data from a first of a group of laboratory instruments; normalizing the first laboratory instrument testing specimen data according to a first normalization curve; and adjusting the first laboratory instrument data according to the first normalization curve.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising: obtaining testing specimen data from a second of a group of laboratory instruments; normalizing the second laboratory instrument testing specimen data according to a second normalization curve; and adjusting the second laboratory instrument data according to the second normalization curve.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the normalization steps include obtaining control specimen data from the first and second laboratory instruments and generating the first and second normalization curves according to the control specimen data.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the first and second normalization curves are generated by applying a nonlinear regression to the control specimen data.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the first and second normalization curves are generated by applying a spline to the control specimen data.

9. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the first and second normalization curves are generated by applying a linear regression, a non-linear regression, and a spline to the first and second control specimen data and measuring the curve error for each curve.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising returning the curve with the minimum cumulative curve error.

11. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising returning the curve with the minimum average curve error.

12. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the first normalization step includes mapping the testing sample data according the first normalization curve and the second normalization step includes mapping the testing sample data according to the second normalization curve.

13. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 4 .

14. A computer system having a memory, an operating system and a central processor, the computer system being operable to execute the steps recited in claim 4 .